Heavenly Virgins حور العين: Beautiful Women with Large Eyes

By Ayoub I. Ayoub

This is a short fictional story of a Muslim woman, Fatima, who extremely suffers from her husband and family on Earth due to cultural gender biases and then sadly dies young in an accident and goes to Heaven, being a devoted Muslim.

In Heaven, she meets her old friend and schoolmate Layla and they both refuse to play the role of the devoted wife once again, as in the case of Fatima, or indulge in being virgins at the service of others, as in the case of Layla.

Once settled, a debate follows with the angels, asking for more women's rights, including free access to all the levels in Heaven. After a dialogue with angels and a lot of devotion and meditation, they proceed to experience what was meant for men only, extending their aspiration all the way up from one level to the other, straight to the top!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Aug 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781528963213

Ayoub I. Ayoub

The author is a Civil and Structural Engineer and a Doctor of Philosophy. He is the founder and ex-president of the Society of Energy Conservation and Sustainable Environment (2004-2016). He is also the head of an engineering chartered consultant office for Green Buildings and Energy Efficiency since 1980. LATEST BOOKS PUBLISHED: * Renewable Energy in Our Lives (Arabic) * Nuclear Energy After Fukushima (Arabic) * Climate Change Armageddon (Arabic) * Green Buildings (Arabic) * Wars of the Franks: Non-Crusades (Arabic and translated into English) * Philosophy Manual: A South-South Perspective, UNESCO, 2014, co-author, and on Scientific Committee (English) * Unveiling Nuclear Energy (Arabic) * Energy, Humans and the Environment (Arabic) * The Political and Economic Challenges of Energy in the Middle East and North Africa, edited by David Ramin Jalilvand [1], Kirsten Westphal [2] (c) 2018 - Routledge (Co-author of Chapter 13), in English. AWARDS: * 1992: The Jordanian State's Award for the Best Scientific Book Published in Jordan, cordially presented personally by the late King Hussein Himself. * 2010: The Green Apple Award, the Golden Prize Winner for the Built Environment in the Middle East, June 2010. * 2011: Green Hero Status, awarded at the British Parliament on November 2010 by the Green Organization. * 2015: Arab Cities Organization, the Environmental Advocate Prize, Qatar. * 2016: Best Scientific Book Award from Philadelphia University, Jordan. Links: ------ [1] https://www.routledge.com/products/search?author=David%20Ramin%20Jalilvand [2] https://www.routledge.com/products/search?author=Kirsten%20Westphal

Book preview

Divine

About the Author

The author is a Civil and Structural Engineer and a Doctor of Philosophy. He is the founder and ex-president of the Society of Energy Conservation and Sustainable Environment (2004–2016). He is also the head of an engineering chartered consultant office for Green Buildings and Energy Efficiency since 1980.

Latest Books Published:

Renewable Energy in Our Lives (Arabic)

Nuclear Energy After Fukushima (Arabic)

Climate Change Armageddon (Arabic)

Green Buildings (Arabic)

Wars of the Franks: Non-Crusades (Arabic and translated into English)

Philosophy Manual: A South-South Perspective, UNESCO, 2014, co-author, and on Scientific Committee (English)

Unveiling Nuclear Energy (Arabic)

Energy, Humans and the Environment (Arabic)

The Political and Economic Challenges of Energy in the Middle East and North Africa, edited by David Ramin Jalilvand, Kirsten Westphal © 2018 – Routledge (Co-author of Chapter 13), in English.

Awards:

1992: The Jordanian State’s Award for the Best Scientific Book Published in Jordan, cordially presented personally by the late King Hussein Himself.

2010: The Green Apple Award, the Golden Prize Winner for the Built Environment in the Middle East, June 2010.

2011: Green Hero Status, awarded at the British Parliament on November 2010 by the Green Organization.

2015: Arab Cities Organization, the Environmental Advocate Prize, Qatar.

2016: Best Scientific Book Award from Philadelphia University, Jordan.

About the Book

It is a short fiction story of a Muslim woman, Fatima, who extremely suffers from her husband and family on Earth due to cultural gender biases and then sadly dies young in an accident and goes to Heaven, being a devoted Muslim.

In Heaven, she meets her old friend and schoolmate Layla and they both refuse to play the role of the devoted wife once again, as in the case of Fatima, or indulge in being virgins at the service of others, as in the case of Layla.

Once settled, a debate follows with the angels, asking for more women rights, including a free access to all the levels in Heaven. After a dialogue with angels and a lot of devotion and meditation, they proceed to experience what was meant for men only, extending their aspiration all the way up from one level to the other, straight to the top!

Copyright © Ayoub I. Ayoub (2019)

The right of Ayoub I. Ayoub to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528920834 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528963213 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2019)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Dedication

To all those who encouraged me to publish this story, especially my friend Ali who helped me in the translation and wanted his name to be anonymous.

Synopsis

It is a short fiction story of a Muslim woman, Fatima, who extremely suffers from her husband and family on Earth due to cultural gender biases, and then sadly dies young in an accident and goes to Heaven, being a devoted Muslim.

In Heaven she meets her old friend and schoolmate Layla and they both refuse to play the role of the devoted wife once again, as in the case of Fatima, or indulge in being virgins at the service of others, as in the case of Layla.

Once settled, a debate follows with the angels asking for more women’s rights including a free access to all levels in Heavens. After a dialogue with angles and a lot of devotion and meditation, they proceed to experience what was meant for men only, extending their aspiration all the way up from one level to the other to the top!

Part One

A Divorce

With a bleeding heart, Fatima walked out of her husband’s house overwhelmed with desperation and grief. Her husband, Ibrahim, had uttered the oath of divorce and expelled her from the home they had shared for many years. At 30 years of age, Fatima had nowhere to go and no means of her own because, since she was a woman, her father deprived her of her inheritance, although Islamic law granted her half the inheritance of whatever each one of her three brothers got.

Fatima was denied inheritance by her brothers at their father’s will because she was married and her husband was supposed to support her. Having lost her father’s heir and her husband’s support altogether, Fatima wondered aimlessly in the narrow streets of her town; her pace becoming slower from exhaustion as the setting Sun began to touch the horizon. She had nowhere to resort to and no shoulder to lean on.

The unfairness of it all! she muttered to herself as thoughts of her life streamed through her mind. Her greatest lament was that God had deprived her of children, which correspondingly deprived her of any chance of sympathy and support from her own family or even relatives and friends who were haunted by dogma and cultural biases, for she was a ‘barren fruitless tree, not worth watering and nurturing’ as the local proverb puts it. She knew how others perceive her in that sense; it is a cruel society no doubt.

Her cousin who was also her husband, Ibrahim, beat her severely for being so incomplete a woman, but when she dared to go in public, appealed to justice, she thought her nightmare was approaching an end, marking the end of her suffering. To her surprise and shock the judge would take the word of a woman as an incomplete testimony, and made it clear that he would not consider the case unless supported by the testimony of two men or one man and two women at least, as Islamic law of "Shariaa" insists.

Where could she find two honest witnesses of the beatings that took place in the privacy of Ibrahim’s home and behind his thick doors and high fence that surrounded their home? Only her friend and neighbor, Sarah, heard her screams at times when the beating was severe and endured long enough. Would Sarah come to her help or she had other considerations of her own?

Later on, after the shouting and beating ended and after Ibrahim went to work, Sarah, her nearest neighbor, would come to